Trust Don't Come Easy
by tvfan69
Summary: My first 5 plus 1 type of story. Both Sara and Leonard have trust issues, even after everything they've been through. So this is five times that Sara trusted Len, one time he trusted her, and how it made both their lives so much better in the end.
1. Fever 2224

After a could've gone better but could've gone worse type of mission in the year 2224 Sara piloted the ship into the temporal zone so that the team could have some time to regroup and recover.

Some of them more than others.

New York 2224 had been hit by an outbreak of some kind of sickness and while they had all been given the closest thing to a vaccine from 2166 before embarking on the mission, Sara had been feeling off for the past two hours or so. Once they were safely in the temporal zone she lifted up the restraints of her seat and walked briskly off of the bridge.

A little too briskly for Leonard's liking.

She looked distracted to him, worried even, so like any halfway decent teammate he followed her to make sure that everything was alright.

He found her in the corridor; her pace still fast but slowed a bit and the fingers of one hand brushing lightly against the wall.

"You ok?" He asked as he fell into step beside her.

"Don't know," she answered and that surprised him a little. "Probably, think I might have picked something up in New York. I'm just going to the med bay to make sure."

Leonard was even more surprised by her explanation, as Sara isn't normally the type to admit herself to the med bay. It was then that he noticed her face was beginning to develop an unhealthy tint that looked a pale yellowish color and was sweaty, not to mention it was no longer her fingers brushing against the cool metal of the wall but her entire left hand. He walked with her, wanting to make sure that she would make it. It wasn't long before she started slowing down, even less time before she was leaning over. He reached out and snaked an arm around her waist in an effort to keep her upright. Wordlessly she wrapped her arms around his neck to help. By the time that they reached the med bay he was dragging her along more than she was walking and he had to swing her up into the chair.

"Gideon, I need you to run a scan on Sara." He ordered as he reclined the chair back, figuring it would be better for her to be lying down.

"Of course Mr. Snart." The AI chimed before a blue light appeared from the ceiling and roamed over Sara's stiff body.

"It appears that Captain Lance has contracted a mild case of an advanced strain of yellow fever, before the Oculus was destroyed the timeline showed the United States government using the virus as a sort of population control beginning in June 2224."

Len bit back a curse; they had been hoping that the Waverider's vaccines would be enough to prevent any of them from catching the virus, but it seemed to have failed Sara.

Looking back to the blonde in question, Len saw that she appeared to be getting worse. Her eyes were half lidded and her head lolled from side to side as though she were fighting to keep herself awake.

"Is there anything you can do for her Gideon?" He almost snapped at the ceiling, of course he knew it was useless.

"Unfortunately, the most that I can do is administer Captain Lance an IV in order to keep her hydrated, it should help but for the most part she will have to endure the sickness, as no true cure to yellow fever has ever been developed."

Well, it was better than watching her die.

"Do… you have to?" Sara murmured, she was still listening to the AI's words and did not like the idea of having a needle jabbed into her right now.

Leonard looked at her sympathetically, he didn't want to subject her to anything that she didn't want but at the same time this could very well help save her life.

"Sara-"

"Just do it," she mumbled, either hearing the soft tone of his voice or mentally talking some sense into herself. "Jus…it." She murmured, her speech slurring with exhaustion and fatigue as she turned her arm upwards, trying to give him access to her forearm for the needle.

Admittedly a little panicked, Len grabbed one of the med bay's IV bags and set it up before carefully prepping the needle, placing his free hand gently on Sara's arm once it was ready.

"It'll be quick, I promise." He said soothingly before administering her the IV.

She still didn't look good, her eyes almost entirely closed but she was writhing around on the chair as though she were possessed. "Can I do anything else for her?" He asked pleadingly, his voice and eyes both filled with concern.

"I am afraid that there is nothing else that can be done for Captain Lance until the sickness passes, except to keep her hydrated. She may move to her quarters to rest if that will be more comfortable, provided that you bring the IV drip and someone keeps watch over her recovery." The computer answered and it was not the answer that Len had been looking for, but it's not like he could blame Gideon for that.

"My room," Sara all but croaked, "I… my room." She requested in her slurred voice.

"You want to go to your room?" Len asked her and she nodded.

"Mhmm," she hummed before she forced herself to sit but Leonard placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder.

"Easy," he said gently, "We'll get you to your room, but you need to take it slow." He instructed and as if to prove his point the blonde on the chair nearly flopped over forward and so he guided her back down. "Take it slow," he repeated and she nodded, opening her eyes and taking a few deep breaths.

Her entire body felt as though it were made of lead. Even the smallest movement took all of her concentration and her mind was in a haze unlike any other. But she wanted to make it her room; she wouldn't let go of that goal. She wanted her bed and her TV. So she rolled herself slowly onto her stomach and dangled one arm and leg over the edge of the chair, testing her weight on her foot and seeing if she might be able to lift herself up. But apparently even that was too much movement than she could handle.

"I'm gonna throw up," she mumbled and Leonard raised his eyebrow at her.

"Are you?" He asked and she nodded.

"I think-" she cut herself off involuntarily with a burp and the next thing she knew Leonard's hands were on her waist as she stood up, helping guide her over to the sink where she pushed back her hair and proceeded to get sick.

Len grimaced at the sight in front of him, and wondered how in the hell Sara hadn't ripped the IV needle out of her arm. But he didn't focus on that, instead he tenderly placed his hands over her own and began gathering her hair, allowing her to reclaim her hands and use them to brace herself against the counter.

Sara let out a shuttering breath once she was through getting sick and slowly lowered her head, taking Len's hands with her. Her entire body felt heavy, like there was a magnet at the front of her skull pulling her down to the edge of the sink. The only feeling she was aware of was the hand Leonard had moved to rub gentle circles on her back.

"Come on," he said softly to her after a minute or two. "Back in the chair."

"My room," she murmured her protest tiredly.

Behind her Leonard shook his head, as much as he didn't want to deny Sara the comfort of her bed, he knew there was no way she'd make it all the way to the barracks. Not to mention she was most likely going to be getting sick again and he didn't want to take the chance of her not making it to the bathroom.

"Later," he promised her, "Rest in here for a little, let the IV do it's thing and then you can go to your room." He said and judging by the sideways glance she gave him he was guessing that Sara wanted to argue with him, but some little part of her must have known he was thinking more rationally than she was because all she did was sigh in annoyance and push herself away from the counter.

Only to throw herself back over when she felt the urge to vomit come back in full force.

Leonard took her hair in his hands again, glancing away as Sara emptied the contents of her stomach. When he heard her shaky exhale of breath he looked back but she still looked pale and cautious, unsure if she were really done throwing up or not. Sure enough she tensed again and more bile went splashing into the sink until no more would come up and Sara was left dry heaving.

Eventually that dry heaving turned to heavy breathing, which turned to normal breathing as Sara lowered her head and once again rested it against the cool surface of the counter.

"Ok," she said in a shaky whisper, agreeing to the idea of staying in the med bay. "Ok," she said again and she tried to straighten up but Len's hand returning to her back halted her.

"Take it slow," he ordered in a low and caring voice and she nodded, taking her time as she braced her weight against the counter and ever so slowly straightened her back. Once she was standing upright, and reasonably certain that she wasn't going to hunch back over sick again, she turned and Len guided her back into the chair.

Sara relaxed the second that her back hit the hard chair, and she wondered briefly if Gideon had mixed some sedatives in with the IV because she wasn't entirely sure it was the fever that had her world going black.

* * *

When Sara's eyes fluttered back open the lights in the med bay were off. She groaned as she began to feel an intense ache in her stomach, probably the cause of her waking, and even more so when it hit her that she had to very badly go to the bathroom. She moved to sit up, still groaning because she felt overall crappy and she was alone so she didn't have to worry about her reputation.

Only she wasn't alone.

Despite her complete lack of energy, she nearly jumped when Snart appeared at her side, holding out a hand to help her up.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked him groggily, clinging to his arm when she found her feet unsteady.

"About five hours," he answered and she nodded, "How do you feel?"

"Like shit," she replied bluntly with a light smirk, one that he returned.

"You'll probably feel like that for a couple days," he warned her just as she reached the bathroom and finally let go of his arm, with nothing but a nod in response to his warning.

While Sara was in the bathroom Len glanced over the sheet of yellow fever symptoms Gideon had printed for him while Sara was sleeping. The disease was, to put it simply, bad. For the most part it was like dealing with a very aggressive case of the stomach flu, with the added risk of liver and kidney damage. Gideon's scans of Sara, something else that she did whilst the blonde was asleep, had revealed a rising temperature of 100.5 and the beginning stages of jaundice. The IV had helped with the second problem, taking away the yellow tint of her skin, but she still had a fever when she woke up.

The sound of the bathroom door opening had Len turning around, the sight of a very disheveled Sara greeting him. "No blood in the toilet," she informed him, Gideon had warned them all before the mission about the symptoms of yellow fever, and bloody urine had been high on the list.

Len nodded, "Gideon scanned you while you were out, turns out the vaccine wasn't COMPLETELY useless and you'd be much worse if you didn't have it. Between that and the IV you shouldn't have to worry about liver or kidney failure."

Sara hummed in acknowledgment as she shuffled her way back to the chair, lethargically climbing onto it.

"What about you?" She asked as she eased herself back against the hard chair. "Are you going to get sick?"

Len shrugged, he didn't really care if he got sick, someone had to take care of her. "Maybe," he answered, "So far the vaccine seems to have worked for me, and I keep washing my hands. The others have been told to stay out of here, just in case."

"Ugh, why was it me that the vaccine had to fail with?" Sara asked, probably rhetorically, but that didn't stop Gideon from replying.

"From what my scans showed Ms. Lance, the vaccine did not fail so much as you were exposed to more of the virus than Mr. Snart, and presumably the rest of the team. It is most likely that your body was simply unable to generate enough antibodies in time to fight off the virus."

"Thanks Gideon," Sara said with the most amused smile that she could manage, "Can I go to my room now?"

"Provided that you remain hydrated," The AI replied and so with a nod that served as a promise Sara began to very slowly bring herself up to a sitting position.

Len looked on as she sat up, standing by ready to help her if she needed it. He didn't step in until she was on her feet, when she stumbled and reached out for something to steady herself. That something came in the form of his arm. She looked up in thanks before steadying herself on her feet and taking an experimental step, then another, and then another. Finally she let go of his arm and slowly headed for her room, him trailing behind her and ready to catch her if she went down. When they made it to her room she began pulling back her covers and crawled onto her mattress, but Len tucked her in before she could do it herself.

"I'll be back," he promised her before leaving her alone.

True to his word he returned only a few minutes later with a washcloth in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. He handed her the water and lay the cloth on her head, cool beads of water immediately running down her hot skin and making her shiver.

"It'll bring down your fever," he told her softly, she smiled to show that she understood and soon his hand moved from the cloth to her hair, gently pushing it back so that the cloth wouldn't soak it.

He lingered over her for a moment; their eyes locked on each other before he reclaimed his hand and straightened his posture.

"Do you need anything else?" He asked

"Trash can?" Her groggy voice requested, "In case I get sick again?"

He nodded, understanding, and moved across the room to grab the empty bucket from where it rested next to her desk. He brought it over to the edge of her bed and left it where she could simply roll onto her side and lean her head over should she need to throw up again.

"Anything else?" He asked again and she shook her head, but he still tossed her the remote for her TV.

She smirked at him and he smirked back, awkwardly standing there probably longer than he should have.

"I'll come back later and check on you, Gideon will want me to take your temperature." He said and she nodded.

"Thank you," she said,

"Your welcome," he said with a nod before, after only a second's hesitation, he turned on his heel and left her to rest.


	2. When Did You Get In Here?

Sara spent the majority of the time that she was sick slipping in and out of consciousness, regardless of if someone was in the room with her or not. Normally she could sleep just fine with someone in the room with her, but she could never sleep through her door opening and closing. It happened a few times while she was sick, though, where she would fall asleep and wake up later to find some indication that Leonard or someone else had been in her room (usually in the form of a new water bottle on her nightstand). She wrote it off as part of the virus, her body too tired to care about a potential threat entering her bedroom when her mind knew it was a friend. Once she recovered, her senses returned to normal and everything from a blaring alarm to Axel scurrying through the air ducts woke her.

So when she awoke one morning, weeks after she had recovered from the fever, to find Leonard Snart sprawled out on her floor with his wadded up jacket serving as a pillow, she was very confused.

"Len?" She asked, propping herself up on her elbow and knitting her eyebrows together.

"Hm?" He hummed in reply, his eyes remaining closed, but he was clearly awake.

Sara hesitated for a moment, chewing on her lip as she struggled to understand how it was possible that she had slept though Leonard entering her room in the middle of the night, and if she was ok with it. "Have you been in here all night?"

"Half," he replied before he finally opened his eyes and sat up with a grunt. "Amaya knocked on our door last night, she and Mick promised I could stay and that they weren't doing anything, but…"

Sara nodded; he didn't need to continue. A lot had changed during the time they spent in LA, and they were all just getting used to being back to traveling around. One of the biggest changes was Leonard, in that they had found him. Apparently when the Oculus blew he didn't die, but was catapulted throughout the time stream, until they broke it and it spit him out in LA along with everything else that had ever been swallowed in a time storm or explosion of any kind. The second change was Nate and Amaya, whose romantic relationship turned out to be not the best idea and they broke up not long before they finished fixing everything. Now Len was bunking with Mick, who Amaya was spending an increasing amount of time with since the break up. It was now bordering on the point where the rest of the crew was fairly certain the two aren't together, and aren't sleeping together, but should be. So Sara knew that Len very well could've stayed in his room last night but didn't solely to give his friend and Amaya the hint.

Besides, being alone with them could often feel like being a third wheel.

"I didn't mean to bother you," he went on, "My first thought was to go to the library, but Heywood was in there with his music again. After that I tried the bridge but the music was still a problem." Sara nodded again in understanding, Nate has gotten much better about keeping his music down after midnight, but it's still loud enough that no normal human being would be able to so much as hear themselves think anywhere within ten of it. "So then I tried the galley, stayed there for about an hour, until Raymond decided to drop in for a late night snack. He offered to let me bunk with him," he stopped, sparing her a sideways glance. "You can imagine how that went."

Sara couldn't help it when her lips curled up on one side in an amused half smile.

"Well you ended up here," she observed and he nodded.

"Told him I was simply killing a few minutes waiting for you to change, that you said I could sleep on your floor." This time the glance he gave her was apologetic, "I didn't mean to," he promised, "I just needed him off my back and that was the first thing I could think to tell him."

"I'm just surprised he didn't offer to share his bed," she teased and the way that he rolled his eyes only made her laugh fully.

"I left before he could have the chance," He defended and Sara laughed even harder. He smirked at that, even if her joy was at his expense. "Since the hall from the galley leads straight to the barracks, I had to come here. I figured I'd slip in, you'd wake up, and I'd stay for ten minutes until Raymond was gone."

There was a sad undercut in his tone, because out of the many things that had changed in the past four months since they broke time, one of the things that hadn't changed was them.

When they first found him they were being attacked by raptors, and the ship was falling apart at the seams. Not to mention a gang of bandits, yes bandits, raided the ship that same night. There was too much going on for there to be time for a discussion about _me and you_ or the kiss at the Oculus. Things just had to fall into place as quickly as possible, and the easiest way to do that is to put things in their old places. He and Mick picked up their partnership as though they had never been separated, and Sara's friendship with him followed suit. Things didn't have time to change, and now that they had time, they didn't seem to know how to make things change.

"So much for your assassin training," He quipped, bringing Sara back to reality and the, possible, problem at hand.

"I honestly have no idea how you didn't wake me," she told him, and it was true. Even if he was careful, his mere presence in her room should've been enough to rouse her.

"Me either, even when you were sick you'd roll over or flinch or something whenever I came in." He mused and his eyes showed that he was just the tiniest bit worried about this.

In truth, Sara was a little worried too. Not for the reasons she assumed he was, as he probably took this as a possible sign of the fever being back or something else physically wrong with her. She, however, knew better than that. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, or what it might mean, so she pushed her worry aside and gave a teasing, closed mouth smile.

"Maybe I'm just getting used to you," she taunted and suddenly Leonard looked very uncomfortable.

"Maybe," he said quietly, getting himself to his feet and now looking down at her. He thought about saying something else, some kind of remark to remind her of what an asshole he is for telling her he wanted a future with her only to go and die, but he didn't. He didn't have it in him to remind her of that, to break his own heart.

So he turned and left her sitting there without a word.


	3. Stumbling Home

Leonard Snart was in Central City on the night that the particle accelerator exploded and gave probably one third of the city's population superpowers. He has battled The Flash, a man-child whom the explosion granted the power of super speed. He's traveled through time and watched his teammate mutate into a partial hawk, the same teammate who can light himself on fire when he merges with an old man. Not to mention he spent a good four months in a broken timeline where he watched dinosaurs tear down Big Ben and a man whose skin turns to steel battle a caveman.

In short, Leonard Snart has seen some weird shit.

But there is one thing in the universe that he never, not once in his wildest dreams, ever thought he would see.

Sara Lance completely wasted.

After fixing everything that they broke within the timeline, and a few days in the temporal zone just to make sure they were done and nothing else was going to randomly fall apart, the team decided to take that vacation they had attempted before crashing in LA. Mick still had his heart set on Aruba, for whatever odd reason, and so Sara piloted them there. Of course Aruba is a prime vacation spot, especially for reckless college students, so you could bet that booze wasn't exactly hard to get ahold of. Anyway it was their second night on the Caribbean island and after spending the day doing their own things most of the Legends, I.E. all but Stein, had found themselves in a nightclub. The night started off tame enough, the group of them having drinks at the bar. However Amaya and Nate clearly were not prepared for a night out together following their break up and so Sara dragged Amaya off to one end of the club while Ray took Nate to the other, leaving Len alone with Mick and Jax.

"Come on kid, have a drink." Mick offered for at least the third time in the past twenty minutes, despite Jax's protests that he was ok for right now.

"No thanks man," the kid answered, patiently as ever.

Len smirked to himself; this was an age-old conversation that he knew too well. Mick has always, always, had an appreciation for alcohol. So much so that he sometimes wondered how Mick isn't an alcoholic, or if maybe he is on some level and they just haven't noticed. Anyway he knew that Mick would get tired of Jax turning down his offers eventually, so he didn't bother intervening.

"What do you think the Professor's doing?" He asked instead as Mick threw back a shot.

"Probably reading a science book," Jax scoffed, "The club ain't exactly his scene anymore."

Leonard chuckled at that, he had nearly forgotten that back in the 70's the Professor had almost been a cool guy, and probably did have a few club stories from his day.

Just then Amaya came over and joined them at their little corner of the bar, pulling up the seat next to Jax and plopping herself down.

"Have any of you seen Sara?" She shouted over the music.

"We thought she was with you," Len shouted back and the woman shook her head.

"She went off with some girl, but that was awhile ago. I was hoping she came back to you."

"Don't worry about Blondie," Mick insisted, "She can handle anyone, and she knows we're right here if she can't." He insisted and, as if she had been summoned, the blonde they were discussing came stumbling over to Len's side right at that moment.

Actually, stumbling would be a generous term.

Their captain looked like she could barely stand on her own two feet, swaying from side to side until her hands found the surface of the bar and she leaned her entire weight onto it for support, a dopey grin decorating her face.

"Heyyy," she slurred, her head lolling to one side and Len raised an eyebrow at Amaya, who merely shrugged.

"She was passing the point of tipsy when she left me," she admitted, "But I've seen her hold alcohol."

"Likewise," Len agreed, turning his focus back to the giggling assassin at his side. "Sara?" He asked hesitantly, "How much have you had to drink?" He wasn't really sure that he wanted the answer to that question, because her tolerance is one of the highest he's ever seen in a person whilst her body is so contrastingly small; meaning a drunk Sara can't be too far off from alcohol poisoning.

Sara giggled at his question, her smile turning coy and mischievous. "Uhh…" she trailed, swinging one foot carelessly back and forth like a child, one finger brought up to her lips as though she were thinking. "I don't know," she said before she laughed. "A lot," she decided, not that that much wasn't obvious.

"No kidding," Mick huffed and briefly Sara turned her head to him and shot him a glare of daggers.

"You probably shouldn't have any more." Len said, directing Sara's attention away from his partner.

"I guess," she agreed halfheartedly before turning her attention completely back to him and fixing him with pleading eyes and her lip in a pout that should've looked ridiculous on her, but instead he almost found it adorable.

Not that he would ever tell her that.

"Will you bring me home?" She asked, taking him by surprise, but at least she realized that she shouldn't be walking alone back to the Waverider.

He nodded, "of curse," he agreed, rising from his seat as she smiled. "Tell Raymond and Heywood that we left." He instructed the others and Jax nodded.

"Will do," he agreed and so Len turned to Sara, who was waiting patiently for him.

"Come on," he said to her, nodded towards the door and then, thinking better of it, resting a hand lightly against her back to guide her through the crowd.

The air outside was warm, but the cool breeze still made Leonard's jacket a practical choice of apparel. In fact, Sara shivered in the breeze and so without a second thought Len shrugged out of the jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks," Sara said quietly, tugging at the open sides of the jacket to wrap it tighter around her.

"You're welcome," Len said carefully, this entire situation was so odd to him. "Are you going to make it back?"

Sara nodded, but stumbled into him as if to show that his concerns were justified. She righted herself, to her credit, but he still wrapped his arm around her waist to keep it from happening again.

If Len needed any proof that Sara was drunk, which he most certainly did not, it came in the form of her response to his action. A sober Sara would have pushed him off, harshly, or even broken his arm. But instead of causing him pain, this drunken Sara actually leaned in to his hold and wrapped both her arms around him. He looked down at her as she leaned her head into his chest, her body into his side, all while she concentrated on walking in a semi-straight path. Her face was blank, until she straightened up with an evil giggle that soon turned into a full on laugh of delight.

"What's so funny?" Len asked, looking down at her as she cracked herself up.

"Did you see Mick's face today?" She asked and apparently voicing the question made the memory that much funnier for her, as she tilted her head back and continued laughing. "When he saw Amaya?" She specified and Len snickered, he had actually seen Mick's face and it certainly had been something to laugh at.

Amaya had opted to spend her day with Mick and Jax down at the beach, of course when she walked out of the fabricator room in a 1940's swimsuit she just had to walk right into Sara who suggested she change into a bathing suit more appropriate for 2017. Personally Leonard thought what she had been wearing was just fine, a one piece that shouldn't stand out too much on a modern beach, but it was a sight to see when Mick showed up to ask what was taking her so long, only for her to walk out at that moment in a string bikini. His partner's jaw had visibly dropped and suppressing a laugh had been hard, but thankfully Amaya took it well and they went on their way.

"I did," he answered Sara, "He's really got a thing for her."

Sara hummed in agreement before she tripped, not that it mattered because Len felt her going down so he tightened his grip on her.

"Whoa," she laughed, apparently finding her sudden lack of grace funny. "Sorry."

"It's ok," Len assured her, "Are you sure that you're going to be able to make it all the way back to the ship?"

"Mmhm," she said with a slightly too vigorous nod. "I'm not even gonna throw up." She promised, wagging a finger in his face as if to mark her words. "You don't need to deal with that."

"Are you forgetting that I already have?" He teased and Sara stopped, her expression still with concentration as she thought, before she finally groaned and began walking again.

"Ooh, when I got sick!" She exclaimed, "I'm sorry," she slurred, stumbling and falling into him, again. "That was gross," she went on, and maybe it was just her choice of words or the way she put them so bluntly, but her voice sounded almost childlike and it had Leonard chuckling with amusement.

"It's ok," he assured her, "And don't worry if you have to get sick." He added, deciding that he would rather have her ok with being sick in front of him rather than getting sick and embarrassed, he had a feeling those two when combined with her drunken state wouldn't exactly be easy to handle all at once.

"Ok, thank you." She said, her voice distant and still sounding like that of an innocent child's. "I don't think I'll throw up, but iss been a looonnngg time since I was drunk, so I don't know what'll happen." She slurred before she giggled again, "I sound funny." She mused; apparently aware of the way her words were coming out and liking it.

"You do," He agreed with her, "And I'm sure it has, I didn't think I would ever see you drunk."

"It takes some time," she admitted, looking up at him and he tried to ignore the fact that her head was against his chest and her arms still around him in a hug as they walked. "And some really good vodka," she said with a wry grin. She kept that grin for a moment, looking up at him mischievously and he couldn't help but smile at the sparkle in her eyes.

She may be drunk, but there was something carefree about her that he could see wasn't entirely the doing of the alcohol. He didn't know what it was, but he liked seeing it.

Finally she turned her attention back to the sidewalk ahead of them. "I'm not supposed to get drunk."

"And why is that?" Len asked, humoring her, and judging by the serious expression he could see on her face he was half expecting something about the alcoholism that runs in her family.

"Cause I'm the Captain," she said instead, taking Len by surprise. "Cause if something happens I'm supposed to be able to get us out of it." She continued and she went quiet, at least for a second. "I knew what I was doing." She admitted, "What they were serving, it was _strong._ " She went on, enunciating that last half of her thought with wide eyes and a very uncoordinated nod of her head. "I took one and knew I'd be gone after another." She laughed now, giggling like the cat who got the canary as opposed to the canary. "I took three."

Leonard looked at her with mild shock for a moment, then ahead of him as he realized that they had left the little town where they had been and were now approaching the Waverider, hidden among the trees of the tropical forest.

"Now why would you do that?" He finally asked as they stepped onto the ship.

"Because we got you back," She answered with a shrug, finally unwinding her arms and detaching herself from him. "I trust the others, but I think they would just argue about what to do with me, or leave me alone. You don't do that." She said simply and Len was about to ask what exactly she meant by that, but of course that was when they came across Stein.

"What are you two doing back so early?" The Professor questioned and in place of a response Len simply poked lightly at Sara's arm, and as a result the assassin stumbled somewhere between three and five steps, laughing the entire time, before she had the sense to reach out and grab onto Stein's wrist, making the Professor jump.

"Sorry," she slurred as she, mostly, righted herself and Len pulled her gently back, causing her to let go of Stein.

"Good God… is she drunk?" The older man asked and Len only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do you need me to poke her again?"

Stein shook his head, "Of course not," he answered, "It's just, well I never imagined that out of everyone on this crew Miss Lance would be the one to come stumbling home."

"That makes two of us," Leonard said before his eyes went back to Sara, who's drunken self was seriously starting to remind him of a little girl; staring up at him patiently and waiting for him to be finished talking, like a child waiting for their parent. "Now if you'll excuse us, I'm going to get her into bed."

Sara smiled dopily at his words, even when he grabbed her by the hand and led her away.

"Of course," Stein said as they went, "Good luck,"

"Thanks," Len snorted but he was sincere about it, as he was most likely going to need that luck.

After a quick stop in the galley for a few water bottles, one of which Len made sure Sara drank at least half of before he would even consider letting her in her bed, they got to the awkward portion of their situation.

Getting Sara changed.

Briefly Leonard considered just letting her sleep in her clothes, but he doubted that her tight pink skirt and sequined tank top were very comfortable (and if she thought Mick's reaction to Amaya in the bikini had been funny she clearly missed his face when she walked out for the night at the club). He dug through her drawers until he found some sweatpants and a t-shirt, then handed them to her and trusted her to dress herself.

While she was doing that he went down to the med bay to get some painkillers, knowing that she was going to be needing them in the morning. He also stopped back in the galley for a box of crackers, something else that Sara was going to need. When he got back to her room he hesitated outside the door for a moment, trying to decide if she could have actually gotten herself dressed in the few minutes that he was gone. Eventually he decided to knock, hoping for the best.

"Come in," her voice called in reply to his knock and when he opened the door he was pleasantly surprised to find that she was, in fact, dressed in the sweats and t-shirt.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, showing her the crackers he had brought with him.

"Not really," she answered and so he put them, along with the painkillers, on her desk. She wasn't gone to the point that she needed to eat before going to sleep, so long as she eats in the morning.

"Ok then, time for bed." He told her and she giggled, but did start walking backwards until she fell onto her bed.

"You're a good babysitter," she mused before laughing, "Your sister must have hated you."

Leonard smirked at her claims, leaning over her and pulling her blankets to cover her.

"As much as any sister hates her brother," he promised and Sara smiled sweetly, almost longingly, up at him.

"Thank you," she said softly, "I'm glad you came back to us, I didn't like doing this without you."

He smiled at her, a genuine smile while brushing a few wisps of blonde hair from her face.

"You're never going to have to," he said and he knew that in their line of work that is a promise that is very hard to keep, but the smile on her face only confirmed his thought of how he would do everything in his power to keep it. "Now get some sleep," he instructed and she nodded, her eyelids already fluttering closed as her exhaustion caught up with her.

As Leonard exited her room he turned out the light and stole one last glance over his shoulder, smiling when he saw her droopy-eyed smile string back at him.

"Goodnight," she all but whispered,

"Goodnight," he echoed.


	4. The Boogeyman

_Red._

 _Red everywhere._

 _All around her, all she could see was red. And black, there was some black too. The red wasn't blood, blood she could handle. Blood had a source; blood came from somewhere. Blood she could stop, or at least try to stop. But the red and black struck everywhere and nowhere all at once. First it was behind her, then in front of her, next to her, 100 yards away, right on top of her… all in a matter of seconds. The face appeared through the lightning, horribly mutilated, flesh and cowl melted together. It's eyes dead, teeth long and feral. It roared at her, an animalistic sound of pure hate. He hated her for living. She wasn't supposed to live. She died three years ago, and again earlier this year. She belonged in the ground; her soul belonged in a realm far below this one. He was here to put her in her place, to return her to where she belongs._

"AH!" Sara bolted up with a scream, clutching her sheets to her chest as she panted and looked around her room on the Waverider, her eyes scanning for a monster but finding none.

It was just a dream.

She let out a long, relieved, breath. Her shoulders relaxed and she dropped her grip on the thin blanket, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and rising to her feet. She's used to her nightmares, so normally she can just lie down and go back to sleep right afterwards, but this one was bad. It was going to be haunting her for awhile, she could tell, so she decided to go for a walk around the Waverider, remind herself that everything is ok.

The ship was quiet and peaceful at this time, four in the (what they were calling) morning. Even Nate had at some point turned off his music and gone to bed. Sara had always loved this time of day, too early for anyone to be waking but too late for anyone to have not yet gone to sleep. This was when the world was the most at peace. Even where they were docked in the temporal zone, time stream seemed more relaxed than usual, the green and yellow waves a calming sight outside the windows of the Waverider.

As Sara wandered her way onto the bridge she realized that she wasn't the only Legend awake at this early hour. Leonard Snart was lounging in his flight chair, looking over at the doorway when she entered.

"Hey," he greeted her quietly, his voice just barely above a whisper.

"Hey," she said back, her arms folded over her middle as she padded across the room and sunk down into the chair beside him. He watched her for a second, but then he turned his attention back to the window. After she sat down they remained quiet, just sitting in each other's company and enjoying the silence.

"You remember anything about being out there?" She finally asked, after they found him they had to tell him that nearly a year had passed since the Oculus. It had barely even been a minute for him. All he remembered was the Oculus, the blast, and landing in LA.

Sure enough he shook his head, Stein and Raymond had told him that being trapped in the time stream might have been like he was in suspended animation, meaning his body had basically been frozen the entire time and it was unlikely that he would ever remember anything about it.

"I still can't believe I was out there," he said, "Or I would've stayed there if you guys hadn't broken all of time."

Sara snorted at his statement, "Well, I guess it's a good thing the Legion won the first time around." She remarked and he hummed but not necessarily in agreement. He had been told all about the Legion and about Doomworld, and while the others knew he was sensitive about it they didn't know why, but he figured they assumed it was because his past self had been a part of it.

He let them believe that. In actuality he couldn't care less that his past self had fought against them. He has no memory of it, and he knows he isn't that person anymore, so the knowledge really didn't have much of an effect on him. What he really hated was that Damian Darhk had used the spear to force Sara to work for him as an assassin, and that she remembers every minute of it.

"What are you doing up?" He asked suddenly, changing the subject and when a frown crossed Sara's face he mimicked it.

"Bad dream," she answered simply. She didn't say more, and Len knew he shouldn't press for details, but he knew Sara has had nightmares ever since the pit and she doesn't normally need to get up to deal with them.

"Must have been a bad one," he mused, his eyes pleading with her to talk but he wouldn't push if she didn't want to.

"It was," she answered, "I know you don't remember the Legion, but apparently speedsters have their own, undead, version of the grim reaper. He was chasing Thawne, because Thawne was supposed to be dead. I know I'm not a speedster, but I am supposed to be dead."

"You are not," he said it quickly, simply, just stating a simple fact. "If you were meant to be dead the universe wouldn't have made you so damn hard to kill."

Sara smiled at that, reassurance washing over her like a tidal wave. "Still," she said, "After he finally killed Thawne he stood right in front of me, growled right in my face. It was like he was promising… promising that he'd get me next time."

Len sat up just a little straighter when she choked briefly on her words; he hadn't expected that. She hadn't either, honestly, and she took a shuddering breath to calm the fear rising in her chest. She was arguably just as afraid now as she had been in her dream, if not more so. Sure it was just a dream, but as she told Leonard about it the realization came upon her that, unlike many of her other nightmares, this one could actually happen one day.

Leonard, seeing the fear growing in her eyes, instinctively reached over and laid his arm around her shoulders. Of course that was awkward with them in two separate chairs so he wound up inadvertently trying to pull her closer, and surprisingly she went.

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Sara Lance rose from her seat and allowed herself to be guided into Leonard's lap, where he held her close and let her lay her head against his chest.

They sat there silently, Leonard moving the fingers of one hand through Sara's golden hair while the other kept her secured in her position. It had to be the early hours of the morning making them both like this, to get them to allow their walls to fall and leave them so unguarded. Even before the Oculus they were never this vulnerable with each other. Leonard had never allowed anyone to see this tender side of his protection apart from Lisa, and Sara hadn't since she was a child allowed herself to simply be held.

But it was nice.

While she sat curled up in Len's arms, Sara felt her fears fading away. They would never be gone, but he didn't have to say it for her to know that any undead speedster trying to put her back in the grave would have to force it's way through him first in order to do it.

"Can we talk about it now?" She found herself murmuring after what felt like an eternity and yet no time at all spent in their silent bubble of protection.

Len shifted at her words, straightening and relaxing his hold on her. She too shifted, uncurling herself and sitting up more so that she could look him in the eye.

"It was a year for you," He said, stating the obvious.

"And a minute for you," she said, also stating the obvious. "But five months in LA for both of us." She went on and Leonard nodded, a lot could change in five months.

But for him it hadn't.

"I've said what I have to say," he finally confessed, meeting her questioning gaze with a completely serious one of his own. "What about you?"

For about one second that felt like ten hours, Len half expected her to just stand up and walk off. But instead she brought her arms up to loop around his neck, pulling herself ever so slightly closer to him and locking her eyes with his.

"I wouldn't be sitting here if I wasn't curious about what the future might hold for me, and you, and me and you."

Normally Len would've smirked at her words, and maybe he did for a split second. He couldn't really be sure. All he knew for sure was that once the words were out of her mouth he had a hand on her arm as if to pull her down, not that she didn't go on her own, and the next thing he knew his lips were on hers.

This kiss was nothing like the one they shared at the Oculus. That kiss, as good as it was, had been desperate and tragic; it had been a goodbye. This one was infinitely better. Soft and promising, not to mention slow because they could take their time. This kiss wasn't the end of everything that could've been.

It was only the beginning.


	5. Alexia

"You gotta be kidding me," Mick said and that, Leonard had to admit, was probably the only way to sum the situation before them.

An aberration had brought them to their own time period, to Coast City, where apparently something was going wrong. Thanks to Gideon's reluctance to share information about the future with them, they were practically flying blind, a prospect that not a single one of them liked. But they went on what they had and found themselves at the Coast City art museum.

Well, three of them anyway. It was just Sara and the two crew members who had previously earned their livelihoods from breaking, entering, and robbing. The others were all monitoring from the Waverider, as the mission currently only called for recon and Sara didn't exactly relish the idea of the entire team breaking into the museum. Anyway, the reason for Mick's words, well Sara wasn't exactly sure. They had come across a figure, clad from head to toe in black, and pointed their weapons with demands that the figure turn around with their hands up. The figure complied, revealing the face of a woman with dark brown eyes, eyes that locked immediately onto Leonard.

That was when had Mick spoken.

"Alexia," Len drawled and Sara felt her heart drop. She could tell by the way he said the name that he wasn't telling them he had a bad feeling about this, but that he was addressing the woman.

"Leonard Snart," Alexia returned, her eyes scanning all three of them before eventually resettling on Leonard. "You've been off the grid for over a year now, I thought you might be dead."

"Sorry to disappoint," Len snapped, "Now what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." Alexia scoffed, taking a few sauntering steps closer to the group, her previous target seemingly forgotten. "If you're here for The Key, I'm afraid I've beaten you to it." She said, although to be fair The Key, the art exhibit she was apparently stealing, was still in place. So technically, she hadn't really beaten him to it.

"And I'm afraid that you've got the wrong idea, I'm not here to steal The Key." Len drawled, looking at her with a gaze that, although Sara was looking at the back of his head, she knew was causing Alexia to rethink her every assumption. "I'm here to stop you."

Alexa smirked at that, in fact she almost outright laughed.

"You and what army, Leonard?" She asked before finally looking past him and over at Mick and Sara. "Mick and… I'm sorry have we met?" She asked, her eyes now focused on Sara.

"No, we haven't. Now leave The Key here, go on your way, and we'll go on ours." The blonde negotiated and Alexia chewed at her lip, pretending to consider the idea.

"Sorry," she eventually said, "But I'm not doing this one for the kicks." She said and with that she threw something to the ground, and the next thing the three Legends' knew they were choking on a thick gas.

* * *

Sara snapped her eyes open with a gasp, only to find the familiar ceiling of the med bay staring back at her. She moved to sit up, her head still spinning just a little, and she almost immediately found Ray at her side.

"Easy, easy." He commanded more than anything, not that she listened.

Looking around she saw Leonard waking up on the bed next to her, his eyes meeting hers as he sat up and silently asking if she was ok. She gave him a barely detectable nod as an answer, one that none of the others seemed to notice. The two of them hadn't talked about the kiss; it had only been a few days. But something had definitely changed between them, they just weren't sure what to call it.

Scanning the room beyond Leonard, Sara noticed that Jax was next to his bed while Mick was sitting on the edge of a cot in the corner with his head practically between his legs, Amaya by his side and rubbing gentle strokes up and down his back. Martin was also standing against the far wall, tapping away at a tablet that Sara assumed held information on what had happened to them. Nate was propped against a wall inside the doorway, not far behind Ray.

"What are we looking at Martin?" She finally brought herself to ask, though her words apparently startled the professor, as when she spoke he jumped before composing himself.

"It appears that the three of you were exposed to an airborne sedative, in short… you were hit with knock out gas."

"Looks like Alexia has some new tricks," Len grimaced as his thoughts finally began unscrambling themselves and he was able to focus on the situation at hand.

"Who's Alexia?" Ray asked,

"A double crossing pain in the ass," Mick replied as if the answer was automatic, lifting his head up and blinking a few times to get his vision straight. "She's a chick boss and I worked with back in the day, said she had been hired by some guy to steal something out of a safe deposit box, but she needed some help."

"And the two of you just agreed to help her?" Jax asked suspiciously, doubtful that Snart and Rory would have helped someone "just because" back when they were full time criminals.

Mick looked at Len, his gaze asking for some kind of permission. Leonard met his eyes and sighed, before looking around at the others.

"I dated Alexia back in high school, or what would've been high school had I not dropped out. Her family was every bit as messed up as mine. She also had a habit of getting caught, and the job was supposed to be a huge payday. She said if we helped her she'd split the money."

"Only problem is she was lying," Mick interrupted, "She'd made a deal with the cops. If she could get us where they wanted us, they'd let her go."

"Needless to say, we hightailed it out of there before the heist." Len finished with a scowl.

"So… Snart's ex-girlfriend is our aberration?" Ray asked but Leonard ignored him, instead choosing to look over at Sara. Her expression was blank, purposely of course.

"Doubt it," he answered, still gauging Sara for a reaction and still not receiving one. "She said she wasn't stealing The Key for the fun of it, and as much as she has a knack for getting caught, she never pulls something like a museum heist unless she's been hired."

"So whoever hired her is most likely behind the aberration," Nate finished and Leonard nodded, before the room fell awkwardly quiet.

That is, until Ray broke it up.

"Well, I think we know what we need to do."

* * *

For the record, Len was NOT in favor of Ray's plan. But the resident genius, although sometimes Len would like to argue that title, did make a pretty sound argument, especially after they got it out of Gideon why this Key sculpture is so important. Apparently it's on loan in the U.S. from Russia, two countries that are already on controversial terms. When the exhibit goes missing, and is evidently never found, it apparently starts the ball rolling on a series of events Gideon wasn't to keen on getting into but will result in a terrible war, as opposed to the previous version of history where, again according to Gideon, no such war ever occurs.

It was likely that Alexia was hired by some criminal from the future who didn't realize how much he's screwing up, but with her job already done the ball was already rolling. Meaning that the Legend's needed to use any lead they could get to find her employer.

So that is how Leonard found himself walking into one of Coast City's dive bars.

Alexia was seated at the end of the bar, a bottle of beer in front of her. Of course she saw him approaching, he never expected her not to. When he sat down next to her she didn't say anything, so he ordered himself a beer, but still nothing.

"So… where'd you get the knockout gas?" He asked when it became apparent that she was going to keep on ignoring him.

"A friend," she answered shortly, still not looking at him.

Leonard rolled his eyes; sometimes he wondered how Alexia managed to get caught half the time when she has such a hatred of telling people things.

"Look," deadpanned, "I don't really care who gave you the knockout gas-"

"No, all you care about is The Key." She mused almost bitterly, which Len definitely chose to ignore.

"Normally I wouldn't, but it turns out that Key is more important to history than it should be."  
"What are you talking about?" Alexia demanded,

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Len said but of course that only peaked Alexia's interest. She swiveled on her stool to face him, meeting his eyes with a challenging gaze.

"Try me," she purred and mentally Len scanned through his options, and determined that he was screwed no matter what he said next.

* * *

Sara clenched her teeth and tried not to dig her short nails _too_ deep into the palms of her hands. The entire team had been less than pleased when Snart returned from his meeting with Alexia following behind him. But the woman who had previously been so set on making their job impossible quickly changed her tune once she heard what the future was in for with that Key missing. She gave them the name of her employer, along with a physical description, and Gideon was easily able to identify him as a known time pirate named Peric. Once that had been done Sara had been all set to give their guest her amnesia pill and send her on her way, but Alexia insisted that she stay and help catch Peric. Nobody saw any reason that she shouldn't, as he did apparently trust her, so she stayed.

Currently Sara was watching Leonard and Alexia, his ex and childhood friend, standing side by side over a table in the library as they went over the plan for disrupting Peric's meeting he had scheduled for tonight in order to pawn The Key.

"Why can't we just sneak in through the vent?" The dark haired woman asked, leaning over the table and pointing to a line on the blueprints that illustrated an airshaft.

"Because," Len replied, picking up her arm and moving it out of his way in a manner that made Sara's heart hurt and her eyes threaten to burn. "It's an air-conditioning vent, there's no entry point from the roof."

"Ok, so we go through a window?" Alexia asked, although she was looking at the backs of their heads Sara could just feel Leonard roll his eyes with amusement.

Therefor she rolled hers with disgust.

"This is why you always get caught," He mused, "You go with the first thing that comes to your mind."  
"I don't recall getting caught when I had you watching my back," Alexia said, and Sara decided she had heard enough.

"Are you two ready to move?" She asked, her words enough to turn them both around as she stood there with her arms crossed. "We need to leave in the next twenty minutes."

"Well we're still working on a plan," Alexia said and Sara took that as her cue to approach them.

"That's why I'm giving you the time check," she said, "Don't want to roll out without a plan."

Ok, maybe she shouldn't have looked over at Leonard when she said that, considering he always has a plan no matter what. But that was what was bothering her at the moment. He always has a plan, and he didn't speak out against Alexia staying. So he might have a plan for her, or for him, or for her and him. A part of Sara realizes that's a very far-fetched idea, to say the least. She and Len may have not yet had an explicit discussion about their relationship following the other night, when they kissed while she sat in his lap as he calmed her from a nightmare, but she knows that he isn't going to be hooking up with his ex-girlfriend any time soon.

Still, the way Alexia positioned herself standing the inside of Leonard's personal bubble, combined with the way that he didn't even seem to notice, was enough to keep Sara's blood boiling.

"We'll have a plan," the dark haired woman assured her, her voice firm and challenging in a way that had Leonard watching Sara for her next move.

Sara was, admittedly, a little taken back by Alexia's tone. She probably shouldn't have been, but it had been such a long time since she had last found herself on the receiving end of this type of hate. She could handle someone actively trying to kill her, but catty drama was something she hadn't really dealt with since high school.

Well, high school and when she first came back from the dead and faced Laurel.

She knew the best way to handle this was to just go along with it, that Alexia would be gone soon enough anyway and so if she wanted to delude herself into a false sense of power, it's best to just let her.

So she nodded and turned away to leave, hoping they could get this over with as soon as possible.

* * *

"Ok, spill." Leonard demanded later on that evening, lounging in the doorway of the captain's office while the captain herself finished logging away the records of they're mission today.

They had returned The Key back to it's place in the museum, dropped Peric off at the vanishing point where Rip had gotten a few prison cells secure and was slowly but surely rebuilding along with the help of a few other former Time Masters, and Alexia's mind had been wiped of the past twenty-four hours. Everything was as it should be.

Well, almost everything.

"You're going to have to be more specific Leonard," Sara said and with a smirk Len let himself into the room.

"I couldn't help but notice that you didn't exactly get along with Alexia," he said.

"She did try to hand you and Mick over to the cops the last time you saw her." She snorted, standing up from the desk and crossing her arms when the look on Len's face said that this conversation was far from over. "What?"

"Don't tell me you were actually jealous of my back stabbing ex-girlfriend?" He said with a smirk and Sara rolled her eyes with a scoff.

"Don't be ridiculous," she insisted but of course Len had that damn knowing smirk crossing his face, and she huffed. "Ok fine, maybe a little."

"And here I thought you were the only one on this ship who regularly thinks straight," he teased and Sara didn't know why, because she should've laughed at that. She wanted to laugh at that, but instead she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Sorry to disappoint," she growled and she felt her heart hurting when the smirk was wiped off Leonard's face.

She didn't want to be like this, this pointlessly anger was something that she knew she shouldn't be feeling. She hadn't felt something like this in a long time, this pettiness that she thought Ivo eradicated from her. But yet, here it was again, still a part of her.

"Sara-" Len began, but she cut him off.

"I know, I'm nuts!" She suddenly snapped, not angrily mind you, but exasperated. "I know there was nothing to worry about, but I just couldn't help it! The two of you have known each other for years, and we aren't anything official-"

Leonard grabbing her hands and effectively stopping her in front of him cut her rant short, his eyes meeting hers with a promising gaze.

"I don't want to get back together with Alexia-"

"I know that," she cut him off.

"But you aren't crazy," he said, much to her surprise. "Or maybe you are, but if you are so am I, because if it had been your ex-girlfriend who strolled in here I can promise you that something would've ended up incased in ice." He said and now she laughed, trying to picture Nyssa walking onto the Waverider and seeing exactly what her ex has been up to, she imagined that the brunette would turn right around and claim that this was all too insane for even her.

"So what are we then?" She found herself asking and Len smirked before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own.

The kiss was soft, loving, and very much like the one that they had shared on the bridge not too long ago. As much as Sara was normally a fan of kisses that were much harder, or at the least more possessive, she could certainly get used to this much tender approach to the action.

"Hopefully two people who get to do that a lot," Leonard said when he pulled away and with a grim Sara pressed her forehead to his.

There was a part of her that she thought was gone, a part Leonard was reawakening. For the first time since before the Gambit, maybe even for the first time ever, Sara felt like she didn't have to hide anything. She could be every part of herself around Leonard.

She felt whole.


	6. Words I Couldn't Say

The Legends have never been known to have a track record of success, not by a long shot. But this, Leonard thought to himself, this was a new level of ridiculous failure even for them.

And of course all he could do was think it to himself, because after a trip to the year 2058 in order to deal with a truly psychotic scientist he had been left unable to speak for about three hours now and it didn't look like the nerds were making any progress in reversing his 'condition'.

"It really is fascinating how she managed to completely deprive him of his ability to speak without damaging his vocal chords." Stein said in awe as he read through Leonard's scan results, all while Len fixed him with a rather pointed look.

"Yeah… he doesn't exactly think it's all that fascinating." Sara informed the Professor, noticing Len's expression right away and reading it easily.

"Oh, of course." Stein spluttered, "My apologies, it's just that chemical weaponry as advanced as this isn't even yet theoretical in our time."

 _"I don't care, just fix it."_ Leonard thought, trying to convey his feelings with a look that he hoped at least Sara would understand.

"He doesn't care, he just wants you to fix him." Sara conveyed, nearly word for word, much to Leonard's surprise. He had thought she would understand, but maybe not _that_ well. "What?" She went on, clearly seeing the shock on his face.

 _"Nothing,"_ he thought and Sara sighed with a roll of her eyes, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking and was calling bullshit on it.

"Any luck with the speechless patient?" Amaya's voice came questioning as she and Mick strode into the med bay side by side, neither of them had been there when Leonard was poisoned but when they met up with him and he was even more silent than usual they knew that something was wrong.

"Afraid not," Sara said and Mick smirked.

 _"What's so funny?"_ Len wanted very badly to ask the question aloud, but alas he could not.

"Len wants to know what's so funny," Sara relayed and ok, it was starting to get a little scary how well she was reading his thoughts.

"Nothing, just that the guy who always has to have the last word suddenly can't speak." Mick snorted and Sara turned her focus back to Len, trying to once again guess his thoughts so that he might not have to sit here COMPLETELY defenseless.

 _"Jackass,"_ Len thought and Sara chuckled.

"Jackass," she echoed and now he couldn't help but look at her completely bewildered, this was just getting too weird.

 _"Did that scientist get to you with some kind of mind reading serum?"_ He wasn't entirely sure whether the question was serious or sarcastic, but he was almost positive that he wasn't going to get an actual answer.

Almost.

"I'm just guessing, I promise." Sara said with a roll of her eyes and it was close enough to a specific answer that Len was still just the slightest bit freaked out by it.

"Guessing to what?" Amaya asked, snapping the blonde's attention over to her.

"What he's thinking," she replied and Mick huffed out another laugh.

"Good luck Blondie, there's no reading Snart's mind." He said and Len gave his friend a look, trying to convey his thoughts of. _"As much as I'd love to agree with you, she hasn't been wrong yet."_

"What?" Amaya asked when Sara began laughing, despite the fact that there wasn't anything particularly funny.

"He's frustrated because I've been right so far." She said and so with a bewildered expression of his own Mick looked to Leonard who nodded, leaving his partner, ironically, at a loss for words.

"Huh," Mick mused, "Well, at least you don't have to walk around with a pen and paper."

Len wasn't entirely sure if Mick was serious or joking, although it was Mick so he was probably serious.

"That actually may not be a bad idea, Mr. Rory." Stein spoke up; Len had almost forgotten the professor was there. "I'm going to get Raymond, but for now I don't suspect that we'll have a cure for Mr. Snart any time soon. He might want to consider a pen and paper."

"Great," Sara drawled when Len rolled his eyes, once again reading his thoughts.

* * *

As the day went on Leonard did in fact carry around a notebook and pen, though he barely used them. He didn't do much else than play cards with Sara, an activity that doesn't necessarily require talking. Besides, Sara was able to read him well enough that they could have a basic conversation. He knew he should've been extremely uncomfortable with that. He had always prided himself on being an excellent liar, yet Sara was somehow able to determine almost exactly anything that he was trying to say, so long as she had some context to put it in. He made a note to be careful of what he thought around her for the next few hours.

Anyway, after an entire afternoon of card games, the two of them went to the galley to grab something to eat, and ran into Nate and Jax.

"Hey," Jax greeted them.

"Hey," Sara returned as she made her way over to the replicator, punching in the code for a sandwich.

"Still can't talk Snart?" Nate asked and Len raised his eyes at him, while Sara rolled hers once she saw.

"Be nice," she chastised him and so he directed a new, more glaring look, towards her. "Yes you did," she argued with his, obviously unspoken, _"I didn't say anything."_

 _"Not technically,"_ he thought but she crossed her arms over her chest, clearly unimpressed with his excuse, or at least the lines she was sure it was going along.

"I don't care, he's just concerned." She reasoned and Len smirked with what would've been a laugh had he been able to emit one.

 _"Please, he's more concerned about his ex-girlfriend spending most of her time with Mick."_ He thought and maybe it was the sudden change in topic, or the almost dirty smirk he was giving, but he wasn't too sure that Sara was going to guess that one.

Yet, when she looked at him with a mix of amusement and disappointment, he knew she had at least the general idea of what he was thinking.

"I'm not saying that," she informed him.

 _"I didn't ask you to,"_

"Good." She answered,

"Ok," Jax interrupted the two of them, "What is going on here?"

 _"What does it look like kid?"_ Leonard thought, _"We're talking about Heywood behind his back."_

Sara rolled her eyes at him with just the smallest hint of a smile on her face, obviously having gotten that he had answered Jax with some sort of sarcasm.

"Snart can't talk, but apparently we know each other well enough that I can more or less read his mind." She explained and Len looked at her with false skepticism.

 _"I wouldn't go as far as to call you a mind reader."_ He thought, testing her just a little.

"I would," she replied with a smirk and a wink, knowing without a doubt that he had thought something about _mind reading_ being a bit of a stretch.

"Yeah right," Nate scoffed, although Jax looked to be convinced. "This guy has one of the most extensive criminal records that I know of. After all the cops who have interrogated him, I doubt even Mick could tell what he's thinking."

 _"And Mick can't,"_ Len thought to himself, his eyes flashing dangerously when, for once having good timing, Raymond entered the room.

"Snart! There you are!" The overly enthusiastic man exclaimed, obviously failing to pick up on the tension in the room. "Stein and I finished an antidote for you, come on." He said before all but skipping out of the room and Leonard followed, grateful that if all goes well he will soon be able to tell Heywood to shove it.

* * *

"Alright Mr. Snart, now this may take a few minutes to work and your voice will likely be weak from a lack of use when it returns, but you should be speaking again in less than ten minutes." Stein said as he prepared a vile of a bright green liquid, one that reminded Leonard a little too much of the sour gel you're supposed to squirt onto candy, the kind his sister enjoys drinking straight from the tube, much to his disgust. "Are you ready?" Stein asked and Len couldn't help the glare he gave the older man.

 _"What do you think?"_

"Shut up," Sara teased him with a grin, making him smirk and Ray look as weireded out as Jax had been. He had heard about how Snart had been communicating through Sara all day, and thought it was sweet that she somehow knew exactly what he was thinking, but now he could definitely see why the others thought it was a little strange.

Without another word, from anyone, Stein handed Snart the vile and the reformed crook tipped it back as though it were a shot, and promptly gagged on it.

"Jesus, are you two sure that thing is safe?" He croaked immediately, coughing into his arm violently as he tried to expel the taste of the antidote from his mouth.

"Hm, I thought your voice would surely take some time to return." Stein mused as Leonard continued to cough, just barely calming enough to accept the water Sara was holding out to him, which he gulped down gratefully.

"Did you also think this little potion of yours would taste worse than vomit?" He snarled as his coughing and gagging finally subsided.

"Sorry," Ray cringed, "We probably should've warned you about that."

"Well, nevertheless, it is good to hear you speaking again Mr. Snart." Stein beamed.

"Thanks," Len choked sarcastically, air finally returning to his lungs as the nerd twins left, leaving him alone with Sara.

At first they were quiet, which was a little odd because he had just gotten his voice returned to him, meaning it no longer had to be quiet.

"So… was I actually right all day or were you just humoring me?" Sara asked, the heel of her boot scuffing the floor as she kicked at nothing.

Len smiled at her question, "What do you think?" He deadpanned and she smiled back, knowing she had been right. So he took a step closer to her, almost in her personal space but she didn't back away. "I had to be very careful with what I thought today, there are some things I want you hearing from me and not your own mouth."

"Like what?" Sara asked with a coy smile that Len returned, and he almost considered asking her to guess, but he knew she would get it right, so he didn't.

"Like that I love you."

They were words he had only spoken a handful of times throughout his life. He'd said them to Lisa, to his mother, probably to his father when he was still in preschool and too young to understand that you don't HAVE to love your parents. He had even said them to Mick once or twice, either when drunk or in a life or death situation that was tipping uncomfortably towards the death option. He had planned on saying it to Alexia one day, but he quickly realized that would've been a mistake. So by that point in his life he thought he had already said, "I love you" to everyone for whom he would ever mean it.

Then he met Sara Lance.

She stared back up at him, her eyes bright and mouth slightly agape, as if he had finally caught her by surprise. "You don't have to-" he began to assure her but she was already looping her arms around his neck, smiling brightly up at him as she stood up on her toes to even out their height difference.

"I love you too," she promised before her lips were on his in a sweet, meaningful kiss.

His hands went to her hips, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss.

"Don't we have a rule about making out in public rooms?" Mick's brash voice sounded from behind them, where he stood in the doorway eating a candy bar.

"Not that I'm aware of," Sara laughed as she and Len broke apart, her turning in order to see Mick.

"Well we should," he grunted before he walked away, leaving the two of them to their own devices once more, as if he hadn't just told them to find a different room.

The two of them laughed as Sara turned back to Leonard, his hands still on her hips.

"He's probably right," she said, "We might want to move to one of our rooms."

"Afraid someone will see us fraternizing?" He teased and Sara chuckled.

"Hardly," she promised, "Just that Mick will tell the first person he runs into about what he just saw, and there's a very good chance that will be Ray. I don't think he's caught on to us yet, so knowing him he'll come running down here to see if it's true."

"Meaning we should get out now," Len finished when, as if on cue…

"WHAT!?" Ray's excited voice came from down the hall.

"Ray don't!" Amaya's shout followed and neither Sara nor Leonard could help the laughter that escaped them.

"Should we still move?" Len asked and Sara smiled before leaning up and giving his lips a quick peck.

"We don't have anything to hide," she grinned and so did he, before he was capturing her lips again, and as the sounds of Ray and Amaya arguing grew closer they didn't pull away.


End file.
